Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, announces today its award-winning Kingston IronKey™ D500S hardware-encrypted USB flash drive has received NIST FIPS 140-3 Level 3 validation. Designed and assembled by Kingston in California, D500S is the world’s first and only FIPS 140-3 Level 3 validated drive with a TAA-compliant and trusted supply chain.
When the IronKey D500S was being designed in 2020, the business goal was to make it a best-in-class hardware-encrypted drive with XTS-AES 256-bit encryption and the newest NIST security standard, FIPS 140-3 Level 3. But, an additional goal was to also go beyond TAA-compliance, which only verifies the legally-declared Country Of Origin (COO). The D500S was designed to ensure that all its critical components and assembly processes fully meet TAA and CMMC compliance requirements.
Critical drive components include the following:
- Secure Microprocessor managing all encryption and authentication processes
- Digitally-signed firmware for the Secure Microprocessor
- Drive software launcher, which includes multi-password authentication and feature setting
- NAND Flash storage chips
- Assembly of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) with all critical components
- Encasing the PCB assembly and injecting epoxy in the rugged casing to comply with FIPS 140-3 Level 3 anti-tampering protection
All critical drive components were directly sourced by Kingston from TAA-compliant and trusted suppliers, and stocked in the secured Kingston Manufacturing Center in California, USA to ensure drive assembly is done in tightly controlled, engineering supervised processes. D500S will also have matching internal and external serial numbers for asset tracking and endpoint management.
“We went over-and-above competitors in the USB data protection industry to ensure that the IronKey D500S is an unrivaled best-in-class FIPS 140-3 Level 3 certified drive for securing data-at-rest and meeting stringent government and military standards worldwide,” said Kingston. “With a trusted supply chain supporting CMMC and TAA compliance, along with design and assembly at Kingston’s USA headquarters, D500S stands out as the most security-focused USB drive on the market—delivering unmatched assurance for customers who require the highest level of trusted data protection.”
D500S also has the industry’s first dual-partition option on a hardware-encrypted USB drive with multiple passwords. This allows Admin to create two custom-sized secure partitions for Admin and User, for a Hidden File Store that can be used to provision files to the User partition as needed. When using untrusted systems or sharing the drive, the Hidden File Stores keep data secure and invisible unless accessed through proper authentication.
Other advanced features include the capabilities of an Admin to set a Global Read-Only mode until reset, as well as to enter a Crypto-Erase password that will destroy the data and reset the drive to prevent unauthorized access in compromising situations. D500S also features a rugged zinc casing which meets military-grade shock, vibration and drop test specifications1 with IP67 dust and water resistance rating2.
D500S offers fully customizable features and functionality to meet your organization’s specific needs, with capacities up to 512GB3 and backed by a 5-year warranty and free technical support. For more information, visit kingston.com/ironkey.
